Welcome to Apartment Therapy’s $32 Design Challenge. Finding the perfect piece of furniture is hard enough… but then it can be surprisingly tricky—and expensive—to style it just right for your home. We challenged five staffers to style five different areas of the home, from the entryway to a desk, with a budget of just $32. Follow along with the whole series here.READ MORE…

Loud neighbors, city noises, snoring partners — sleep is precious, and all of these things can disrupt it. Some of you may be deep sleepers who regularly sleep through alarms, while the rest of us are jolted awake by alarm clocks going off in other rooms (and apartments—looking at you, upstairs neighbor). One solution is a sound machine that will mask unwanted, annoying noises with gentle nature sounds or white noise.

These are great for apartment and city living, but also for infants who can’t stay asleep, people who need help focusing at work, night shift workers who need to sleep while everyone else is awake, and even tinnitus sufferers who need relief from the ringing in their ears. Whether you’re looking to spend a little or splurge, here are ten of our favorite options on the market.

If you’ve ever been a concerned plant owner, then you probably know that yellowing leaves are one of the first signs that your plant is distressed. But with possible root causes ranging from underwatering, to overwatering, to a pest problem, it can be hard to get to the bottom of your plant’s ailment. The next time you need to diagnose a sick houseplant, consider this your step-by-step guide.

Of course we all love IKEA, but sometimes you want something just a little different (or something that all your neighbors don’t already have). The trick, of course, is that finding beautiful, modern furniture at inexpensive price points is a little like finding a needle in a haystack. If you’ve got champagne taste and a beer budget, take a look at this list of eight retailers where you can satisfy your design craving — while still being able to pay the rent.